Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jan:1:100001.
doi: 10.1016/j.ahjo.2020.100001. Epub 2020 Sep 28.

Decrease in cardiac catheterization and MI during COVID pandemic

A Ullah  1 , D G W Fraser  1   2 , F Fath-Ordoubadi  1 , C M Holt  2 , N Malik  1   2
Affiliations

Decrease in cardiac catheterization and MI during COVID pandemic

A Ullah et al. Am Heart J Plus. 2021 Jan.

Abstract

The consequences of severe acute viral respiratory syndrome (COVID 19) pandemic include collateral effects, one of which has been the significant reduction in routine hospital work. With widespread reports indicating reduction of cardiac procedures including MI presentation to hospitals, we aimed to analyze the local data over a 10-week period during lockdown in a tertiary cardiac centre Catheter Laboratory in England.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of the coronary catheterisation procedures and admissions with MI over the peak COVID-19 pandemic 10-week period (23rd March-30th May) in 2020, compared with the same 10-week period (25th March-2nd June) in 2019.

Results: In 2019, 539 patients were admitted to the Cath lab for coronary catheterisation (M = 385:F = 154; mean age 65 years; STEMI = 186, NSTEMI = 192, elective = 161). In 2020, during peak period of COVID19 pandemic in England, a total of 278 patients were admitted for coronary catheterisation over the 10-week period (M = 201:F = 77; mean age 60.5 years; STEMI = 132, NSTEMI = 118, elective = 28). During peak COVID19 pandemic, this represents a 48.4% drop in all coronary catheterisations. The reduction in STEMI was 29% (54 less), in NSTEMI was 38.9% (74 less) and elective procedures dropped by 83% (133 less).

Conclusion: During peak COVID hospital admission period in England, we report a 48.5% reduction in coronary catheterisation in our tertiary hospital. These results are consistent with reports from other countries, and highlight the worrying potential consequences for these patients arising from delays in presentation with MI, and the challenges for restoring services post-pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; NSTEMI; PCI; STEMI.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. WHO announces COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-emergencies/coronavirus-... Published online 2020.
    1. Moss P., Barlow G., Easom N., Lillie P., Samson A. Lessons for managing high-consequence infections from first COVID-19 cases in the UK. Lancet. 2020;395(10227):e46. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30463-3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Adlan A.M., Lim V.G., Dhillon G., Kurdi H., Doolub G., Elamin N., Aziz A., Shastry S., Davis G. Impact of COVID-19 on primary percutaneous coronary intervention centres in the UK: a survey. Br. J. Cardiol. 2020;27:49–52. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pessoa-Amorim G., Camm C.F., Gajendragadkar P., De Maria G.L., Arsac C., Laroche C., Zamorano J.L., Weidinger F., Achenbach S., Maggioni A.P., Gale C.P., Poppas A., Casadei B. Admission of patients with STEMI since outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic: a survey by the European Society of Cardiology. Eur Heart J Qual Care Clin Outcomes. July 2020;6(3):210–216. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Huynh K. Reduced hospital admissions for ACS — more collateral damage from COVID-19. Nat. Rev. Cardiol. 2020;17:453. doi: 10.1038/s41569-020-0409-5. - DOI - PMC - PubMed